Manufacturer's rebates are part of a common business strategy used to encourage consumers to purchase particular products and groups of products. The rebate returns a predetermined amount of money to the consumer as a refund if the consumer first purchases designated products and meets any other requirements that may have been imposed. The consumer is encouraged to buy such products knowing that, eventually, part of the purchase price will be refunded. The conventional rebate system places the burden on the consumer to complete forms and mail them to the sponsoring company, usually along with a copy of the purchase receipt and a “proof of purchase” identifier from the product packaging. The consumer typically receives the rebate six or more weeks later, and sometimes months later. The sponsoring company can reasonably expect that many consumers, after being enticed by the rebate to buy particular products in the first place will not ultimately follow through with the requirements, or will fail to submit the appropriate forms in time, or simply misplace the receipt and not be able to claim the refund.
With the advent and growth of Internet commerce, rebates have played an important role in enticing consumers to purchase one product instead of another, using the lure of a rebate to offer a net lower price. However, even e-commerce purchase transactions require that forms be completed and mailed in, with the rebate still being received by mail.
What is needed in the art is a rebate transaction system that provides instant rebates to consumers. What is further needed is such a system that provides rebates in the form of credits or refunds that are transferred through a distributed computer network. A further benefit results from such a rebate transaction system that provides incentives for the consumer to make a further sale beyond the product that qualified the consumer for the rebate in the first place. The present invention satisfies these and other needs through systems and methods described below.